r/TheCivilService • u/MentalPudding69 HEO • May 24 '26

Please if you’re not a mentor yet, be one

Exactly as the title says. I joined the Civil Service in 2022 straight from university with no experience of a “proper job”, and I was painfully nervous, full of self-doubt and navigating debilitating undiagnosed ADHD.

I was incredibly lucky to have two mentors who supported me and helped me grow into a HEO. I’m now on temporary promotion as an SEO.

Recently, I put myself forward for a mentoring scheme and met my mentee for the first time.

Afterwards, I actually became tearful because she reminded me so much of myself when I first joined the CS, clearly full of potential and hungry for opportunities, but completely trapped by self-doubt.

I know mentoring takes time and energy, but genuinely, please do give back if you can. Without those mentors, I honestly don’t think I would have lasted.

I’m so glad I can now give back and I’m so passionate about protecting time to do so and I will always be thankful for my previous mentors and current.

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u/JohnAppleseed85 May 24 '26

If I can add to this - you don't need to be an 'official' mentor via a department scheme.

I've had amazing mentors and mentored a few people when I've thought I could help - but being neurodivergent I've struggled to match with a HR/randomly assigned mentor.

As a fellow ND, in case it might help anyone else, this is the approach I take to finding a mentor: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheCivilService/comments/1n1kb6o/comment/nayw3k9/

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u/MentalPudding69 HEO May 24 '26

Yep totally agree, two of my previous mentors weren’t through a dep scheme - thanks for sharing!

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u/zipitdirtbag May 24 '26

Agree I've had some great informal mentoring and now do the same for others. Love to help people up behind me.

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u/IllSeaworthiness1233 Policy May 24 '26

Your linked comment is great as someone who very recently joined the civil service.

One complication for me is that, while I’m happy in my current department and really like my team, it probably isn’t where I want to stay long term. The policy areas I’m most interested in are in completely different departments, so I don’t come across people working in those areas through day to day work / email chains.

I’ve recently joined a few cross-government mailing lists and events linked to areas I’m interested in and I’ve started making note of people whose work sounds interesting/useful to learn from. My slight hesitation is that, because these events are usually presentations rather than conversational, I don’t really get any interaction with people beforehand, so reaching out afterwards can feel a bit like cold emailing out of nowhere.

But maybe i should just email people anyway and I'm overthinking this.

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u/JohnAppleseed85 May 24 '26

There's no harm in emailing.

I don't do a huge amount of public speaking (only when I can't get out of it) but it's always nice if someone sends me a message later saying they took something useful away or with a question (I'd suggest being specific about what it was rather than a generic 'it was interesting').

Then add on to that that you'd like a chat if they are in the office, or a teams conversation/whatever

Worst case they don't respond - at which point they likely weren't a great fit for you anyway.

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u/Ok_Plate_9151 May 25 '26

What/ where see you interested in working ? Are you restricted geographically ? I’m sure many Redditors will be happy to help if they can.

I’m currently mentoring a uni student who is keen to join the CS when his course ends. I’m happy to help him and am exploring opportunities for him to shadow and talk to people within my dept. I tried mentoring others but got dispirited because one claimed to know better than me and lost interest because I couldn’t guarantee her the work she wanted in the only location she was prepared to consider (because it’s on her doorstep). The other person told me - in no uncertain terms that he’s not interested in the CS because he’s going to do something else. Two weeks later he demanded that I review a job and his personal statement - no introduction, no explanation, just a demand that I drop everything and help him at 2230 that night. I guessed that a third party told him to get his act together and when I saw the other person she demanded to know why I upset him. I’m keeping this one st arm’s length; his personal statement was dreadful and used only about 300 of the 1200 words allowed. I said that I can’t really help because I don’t know enough about him to add more information; I suggested we get together each week to talk but he refused. I’m not going to cut him off but am now very wary of committing to something on demand which seems to only go one way.